A shabby back street in London’s Bethnal Green might not have been the most obvious choice for a French-inspired restaurant and chic cocktail bar, but 20 years after restaurateurs David Waddington and Pablo Flack launched Bistrotheque on the first floor of an early 20th-century industrial warehouse of brick, concrete and steel, the party is still going strong – more so now with the opening of their latest project, The Cockatoo, on the ground floor.
The Cockatoo by Bistrotheque, London
The ground-floor space, legendary for its drag cabaret shows, has been transformed by London-based studio Nice Projects into a standalone restaurant and performance area that can be reconfigured in a flash to cater for private events and dinners. The plan is also to open up the 105 sq m space for dance parties with live performers and DJs drawn from a predominantly queer cabaret scene, such as Bistroteque-favourites Jonny Woo and Dan Wye, aka Séayoncé.
Given a brief to create a flexible layout, Nice Projects’ Sacha Leong and Simone McEwan developed a modular banquette system on lockable wheels, which they paired with green mohair velvet and translucent polyester grating for the banquettes. Extant columns and lit fringe capitals are clad in mirror mosaic, the shimmering confection framed by a sassy fringe ceiling curtain, the latter made of 250m of fringe threads painstakingly zipped to metal grating.
The result is a fresh space that nevertheless cleaves close to its antecedents. As Leong and McEwan point out, ‘Bistrotheque is an east London institution that is now 20 years old. It’s had many successful iterations in the past, so it’s a special space for the creative community.’
Meanwhile, The Cockatoo’s kitchen is headed by Bistrotheque’s head chef Blaine Duffy, whose Mexican-inspired menu features the likes of grilled steak paired with ancho chilli butter, spring onions and lime, and a refreshing salad of grilled jicama, radish, corn and citrus. Traditionalists may prefer to show up on a Sunday for the classic roast and Yorkshire pudding.
The Cockatoo by Bistrotheque is located at 23-27 Waddeson Street, London E2 9DR, thecockatoo.london
-
How guest editor Marcio Kogan, during a visit to the movies, ‘discovered that something else exists in the world, real poetry’Marcio Kogan is a guest editor of Wallpaper* October 2024. In his dedicated section, we discover how the world of cinema’s loss was architecture’s gain when a feature film failed but a dream space creator rose from the ashes
-
Discover Tempe à Pailla, a lesser-known Eileen Gray gem nestled in the French RivieraTempe à Pailla is a modernist villa in the French Riviera brimming with history, originally designed by architect Eileen Gray and extended by late British painter Graham Sutherland
-
Guest editor St. Vincent and Alex Da Corte on making the dark and uncanny world of All Born ScreamingSt. Vincent is a Wallpaper* guest editor for 2024. Here, the shape-shifting musician deliberates with her long-time collaborator, conceptual artist Alex Da Corte, about the human condition, finding inspiration in dark places, and the merry dance with chaos that is a creative's path
-
London’s Covent Garden makes the perfect cosmopolitan backdrop for new British-French bistro, HenriBritish chef Jackson Boxer and French designer Dorothée Meilichzon reunite for Henri, a restaurant located inside darling hotel, Henrietta
-
Seven London late-night restaurants worth staying up forOur food critic picks the best late-night restaurants London has to offer, dishing up excellent food in stylish surroundings after midnight
-
Café Petiole is a pastel-hued, plant-based haven within Somerset HouseDesigned by female-led studio Duelle, Café Petiole’s romantic interiors complement a vibrant vegetarian menu by chef Rishim Sachdeva, at Somerset House in London
-
Tollington’s is the new Spanish-inspired fish bar making a splash in north LondonTollington’s in Finsbury Park is a new opening from the team behind The Plimpsoll, championing Spanish-style dining and interiors
-
The Orangery at Kensington Palace offers high tea and verdant vistas in a royal London settingThe Orangery at Kensington Palace Gardens is the perfect green setting for a sunny day treat of afternoon tea and more
-
Meet Paradise 2.0: the beloved Soho-based Sri Lankan restaurant, reinventedParadise 2.0 embraces tropical brutalism following a renovation by Dan Preston Studio
-
Step inside the majestic Mandarin Oriental Mayfair, LondonIn matching its exclusive and central location, a sleek building by RSHP houses the new ultra-refined Mandarin Oriental Mayfair, London
-
Soak up London’s sunshine at these stylish rooftop barsDiscover the best London rooftop bars, from the Middle Eastern-themed Yasmin Soho to Spanish tapas haven, Amano Rooftop Bar
